Kadima edges Likud by one seat

JERUSALEM (JTA) — The Kadima Party edged the Likud Party by one seat in the new Knesset.

With 99.7 percent of the vote counted, the Tzipi Livni-led Kadima had won 28 seats, followed by the Benjamin Netanyahu-led Likud with 27 seats, according to election results released Wednesday.

The final results of Tuesday’s national elections will not be available until Feb. 18, when the votes from soldiers and Israeli emissaries working abroad are included.

Yisrael Beiteinu, led by the controversial Avidgor Lieberman, garnered 15 seats, while Labor, led by Ehud Barak, received 13. The Sephardi fervently Orthodox party Shas had 11 seats, followed by United Torah Judaism with five; United Arab List, National Union and Hadash each with four; and Meretz, Jewish Home and Balad, each with three.

The right-wing bloc leads the left-wing bloc by about nine mandates.

Voter turnout was 65.2 percent, some 2 percent higher than the 2006 national elections.